Company Report

Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends of our Company,

It certainly made me think when I learned that the Chinese characters for crisis and opportunity are one and the same.

The 2009 financial year proved to be better than we expected at the beginning of the year. Despite a 14 percent decline in turnover, there has been an improvement in our key financial figures. In difficult times, it is important to exercise some humility, to examine one’s own actions and to raise questions about many issues. As a family company, it is our task to serve the market fairly, to provide our employees with secure jobs and to keep the family assets that are invested in the company safe for the next generations. These three goals are not self-contradictory; they are independent.

To prepare for the anticipated fall in turnover, we included risk markdowns in our planning and worked through a number of crisis scenarios. Today, more than a year later, our organisation can still look back on a track record of stability.

We can thank our robust business model for this. Our well balanced portfolio of independent specialist bulk logistics businesses and our international presence have contributed towards the company’s stability in volatile markets. As an international partner of the chemical, gas, petroleum and food industries, we serve a customer base that exhibits diverse demand behaviour.

Although HOYER Group turnover fell in 2009 to approximately EUR 852 million, it became clear in the second half of 2009 that we were on course for another positive, although reduced, operating result. Thanks to our stringent cost saving measures – particularly related to equipment but also to personnel – we achieved a net income of EUR 18 million for the financial year with a 2.4 percent return on turnover (before tax). The global economic situation has alerted us all, management as well as workers and the works council, to the importance of responding rapidly to events with flexible solutions. The constructive atmosphere in which we developed our response to the challenges of 2009 has greatly strengthened team spirit within the company.

This success encouraged us to make further acquisitions in pursuit of expansion in our growth markets. We continue to pay close attention to markets outside Europe, including the emerging BRIC markets (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and Eastern Europe.

In early 2010, the economic climate began to show same signs of improvement. Our expectations remain cautious, however, in view of the serious risks in the financial markets and particularly in view of the disturbingly high debt levels of many national economies. We have therefore based our budgetary planning on 2009 figures.

As in the past, we will continue to manage the HOYER family company in a responsible, sustainable manner for the benefit of our customers, our staff, our suppliers and the family.

The excellent commitment of everyone working for HOYER, from management to drivers, has enabled us to overcome the economic and operational challenges of 2009. For this, please accept my thanks and respect.

I look forward to the next step on our shared journey.

With kind regards from Hamburg,

Thomas Hoyer